Who were the Knights Templar? What were they? These questions are particularly important in the context of Scotland because in Scotland their purpose was purely economic, and their only engagements were Bannockburn and the battles that led up to it. But still, in Scotland the Templars had a purpose, and no less a mystique than the mystique that existed in France and Palestine. To that end, this chapter describes who the Templars were and what they did. It is not meant to be exhaustive. For this, there are several books listed in the Bibliography.
If the Templars fled to Scotland after their arrest in France, would they have been inclined to stay there? The answer to this question is found in the description of how the Templars lived, and what aspects of their lifestyle in Europe and Palestine were consistent with their life in Scotland. There is also the question of whether the Templars were present at the Battle of Bannockburn. Would the Templars have remained in a fighting mode for eight years?
The Knights Templar are often described as ‘warrior-monks’. Most authors emphasize the Templars’ battles, with some discussion of their extensive commercial and banking activities. But there is little discussion about a Templar Knight’s daily life, or how he lived as a monk. Because Scotland involved no Templar battles, and was exclusively a commercial center devoted to raising money, a more complete picture of the Templars is essential.
The Order began as the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, and ultimately became the Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitane, the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, or the Knights Templar. It was formed in 1119 by Hughes de Payens and Godfrey of Saint Omer to defend Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land during their pilgrimages to Jerusalem. 1 The Order was made up of knights and other nobles who took the vows of a monk. It became the world’s most effective fighting force and first multinational conglomerate.
The Order was formed as a result of the First Crusade that ended in 1099 with the capture of Palestine (known to Europeans as ‘Outremer’, the land beyond the sea) and the city of Jerusalem. With the capture of Jerusalem came a flood of pilgrims from Europe to visit the Holy Land. There were an immense number of pilgrims and their need for protection was the catalyst for the formation of the Knights Templar.
The Templars’ primary founder, Hughes de Payens, was a knight who came from the village of Payens in the province of Champagne on the left bank of the River Seine in northern France. He was a vassal of, and owed his allegiance to, Hugh, the Count de Champagne. The Templars originally consisted of nine knights: Hughes de Payens, Godfroi de St Omer, Roral, Gundemar, Godfrey Bisol, Payens de Montidier, Archambaud de St Aman, Andrew de Monthar and the Count of Provence.2 The number of knights remained essentially the same for nine years. The only known change was the addition of Hugh, Count de Champagne, in 1226. He was a powerful noble who brought a great deal of credibility to the early Templars. The Templars’ purpose was to assist and protect the pilgrims as they traveled from Mediterranean ports, usually Jaffa or Tyre, to Jerusalem, and from there to the other holy places in Palestine. This need existed because the Christians held the cities and holy places, but could not control the routes in between. As a result, the routes were constantly under threat by marauders, thieves and the people who had been dispossessed of their homes as a result of the First Crusade.
Housing for the original knights was unusual. Initially they had none. But at Hughes de Payens’ request, Baldwin I of Jerusalem permitted the Templars to live in a wing of his palace over the catacombs of the former Temple of Solomon. It is not known how the original nine Templars, who lived in poverty and relied on handouts for food and clothing, were able to protect travelers and stay alive in Outremer for nine years. First, disease was a significant problem for Europeans who traveled to Palestine. Then there is the question of how only nine knights could protect thousands of pilgrims and themselves, and stay alive against the Arabs who continued to fight as bands of mounted armed outlaws.
It is believed by many that the Templars’ primary purpose during the first nine years was excavation in the catacombs beneath the ruins of the Temple of Solomon.3 What was found is a matter of great discussion, debate and dispute. There are various suppositions. They range from the Holy Grail, to the Ark of the Covenant, to an immense amount of precious metals and jewels, to the scrolls of Jesus’ brother James the Just, to evidence of a marriage between Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene, 4 to nothing at all. Some of the theories do appear to have a historical basis. Early in Templar history (apparently within the first nine years), Hughes de Payens is said to have written that ‘although Christendom seemed to have forgotten them [the Templars], God had not, and the fact that their work was in secret would win them a greater reward from God.’5 But there is no evidence that indicates why the Templars’ work was in secret, or what their work was.
The evidence that does exist simply confirms that the Templars explored the catacombs under the Temple of Solomon. In the latter part of the nineteenth century Lieutenant Charles Warren of the Royal Engineers was part of a team that conducted an excavation of the catacombs. Among a number of discoveries, Lieutenant Warren found a variety of Templar artifacts, including a spur, the remains of a lance, a small Templar cross and the major part of a Templar sword. These artifacts are now in Scotland and are part of a private collection owned by Robert Brydon, a Templar historian and archivist.
Much has been written about the Templars’ battles, their victories, and defeats. Likewise, much was also written about their downfall, the charges that were ultimately brought against the Templars in 1307, and their trials for heresy.6 But little has been written about just who they were, how they lived, their organization, or whether they continued to exist in Scotland after they were officially suppressed and disbanded in 1312 by Pope Clement V. The Templars lived a life that conditioned them to be organized and devout. Their duties involved not only fighting in battles, but living an austere life that focused on the preservation of their Order, their traditions and their property.
To understand the Templars one must first look at what knights generally were, and what they were not. In the Middle Ages, knights were not looked upon favorably. As succinctly put by Peter Partner in The Knights Templar and their Myth:
Far from idealizing chivalry, religious leaders usually represented knightly life as lawless, licentious, and bloody. The Clergy were absolutely forbidden to shed blood, and to combine the life of an active soldier, killing and plundering like any other soldier, with the life of a monk, was to go against a fundamental principle.7
But this description did not apply to the Templars. The Templars’ mentor, Abbot Bernard de Clairvaux, who ultimately became Saint Bernard, and who is depicted in a fifteenth-century painting shown in Figure 1, was strident in his belief in the Templars, and was eloquent in his expression. This is illustrated in his essay ‘In Praise of the New Knighthood’, which he wrote in the early 1130s to Hughes de Payens. In modern terminology, it was a masterful sales tool for recruiting knights, and soliciting support and gifts. The following quotes are examples:
The new order of knights is one that is unknown by the ages. They fight two wars, one against adversaries of flesh and blood, and another against a spiritual army of wickedness in the heavens.
[…]
Truly, his is a fearless knight and completely secure. While his body is properly armed for these circumstances, his soul is also clothed with the armour of faith. On all sides surely his is well armed; he fears neither demons nor men. Truly does he not fear death, but instead he longs for death. Why should he have a fear for life or for death, when in Christ is to live, and to die is to gain? He stands faithfully and with confidence in the service of Christ; he greatly desires for release and to be with Christ, the latter certainly a more gracious thing.
[…]
Even more amazing is that they can be gentle like a lamb, or ferocious like a lion. I do not know whether I should address them as monks or as knights, perhaps they should be recognised as both. But as monks they have gentleness, and as knights military fortitude.8
As the Order evolved, the Templars were ultimately governed by a detailed set of regulations, appropriately named the ‘Rule’. What caused the Rule to be written is a matter of dispute. According to Malcolm Barber, the guiding hand was Saint Bernard, but the actual wording of the Rule was a ‘fairly exhaustive process of committee discussion’.9 This view is disputed by Lynn Picket and Clive Prince who contend that ‘Bernard actually wrote the Templars’ Rule – which was based on that of the Cistercians …’10
Regardless of how the Rule was written, it absolutely controlled the life of a Templar Knight, whether he was fighting in the east or involved in commerce in the west. Under the Rule, a Templar’s lifestyle was beyond austere. He lived as a monk who cropped his hair, let his beard grow and, to avoid temptations of the flesh and to be ready when needed, he always slept clothed.11 The Templar Knight ate meat only three times a week.12 He spent a great deal of his time in silence.13 There was no gossip or small talk.14 The knight lived in a dormitory-like building and was allowed no privacy. He could not use or own locks. If he received a letter it had to be read to him out loud in the presence of the Master15 or possibly a chaplain.
While the Templars did not have the powers and sanctity of the priesthood, each day when he was not in battle, which was most of the time, he performed the six liturgical prayers. This occurred every day of a knight’s life. The normal Templar’s day began early at 4 a.m. with the day’s first liturgical prayer, Matins. The Templar brothers would recite thirteen Paternosters (Lord’s Prayers) and prayers to Our Lady. They would then tend to their horses and equipment. This was followed by Prime at 6 a.m. which included more prayers and Mass. Then at 11.30 came Sext and the reciting of additional Paternosters and prayers to Our Lady.
After Sext came the afternoon meal, which was eaten in silence. At 2.30 came Nones and more prayers. Then Vespers at 6 p.m. was followed by the evening meal. The sixth and final liturgical prayer was sung at Compline, after which the Templar Knight would attend to his horses and then retire.16
In between the times for prayer and meals, the primary tasks for the Templar Knight in Outremer were tending to his horses and arms, and keeping ready for battle. Each knight also worked in the fields and filled in where needed with other simple tasks. The Templars were not permitted to, and never did, remain idle. This routine was followed day in and day out. It did not vary. It applied to all Templars, including knights and sergeants, and all those who abandoned secular life and chose the communal life of the Templars.17 Once one became accustomed to the routine it became part of the Templar’s life, whether he be a knight, sergeant, chaplain or a committed menial worker. The routine was followed in Outremer and in all parts of Europe and the British Isles. The level of commitment is demonstrated by the amount of torture that the French king had to exert, or threaten, before he could begin to extract confessions after the knights’ arrests.
On the battlefield the Knights Templar were not only superlative horsemen who constantly trained to perfect tight formations, but were fearless, and dedicated to victory over the Saracens. To this end, they were not permitted to retreat unless the odds against them were at least three to one. In some cases the Templars did not retreat until their forces were outnumbered six to one. Even then, they could not leave the field unless ordered to do so. Surrender was useless because the Templars could not use their funds for ransom. As a result, Templars taken in battle were either traded or, more often, summarily executed.18 After 1229, when the Templars became an organized fighting force, with up to four horses per knight, a squire and excellent armament, the average lifespan of a Templar Knight who chose to remain in Outremer was about five years.
Even before the adoption of the Rule, each Templar Knight took vows of absolute poverty, chastity and obedience before Warmund of Picquigny, Patriarch of Jerusalem.19 Surprisingly, only two of the three vows were incorporated into the Rule. Poverty was assumed. The applicable Rules and practices were severe:
Chastity was a very important vow. In the charges brought by King Philip IV of France, sexual deviancy was almost a theme. Yet the writers and commentators are uniform in their opinion that there was little if any lewd or untoward conduct among the Templars. What faults there were lay in the areas of secrecy and avarice which is discussed in later chapters. Chastity was codified in the Rule, article 71, which states:
We believe it to be a dangerous thing for any religious to look too much upon the face of woman. For this reason none of you may presume to kiss a woman, be it widow, young girl, mother, sister, aunt or any other; and henceforth the Knighthood of Jesus Christ should avoid at all cost the embraces of women, by which men have perished many times, so that they may remain eternally before the face of God with a pure conscience and sure life.
Obedience was absolute. It was codified in the Rule at article 39, which states that:
For nothing is dearer to Jesus Christ than obedience. For as soon as something is commanded by the Master or by him to whom the master has given the authority, it should be done without delay as though Christ himself had commanded it.
While there is no specific article in the Rule which commands poverty, the specifics of how a Templar Knight lived left no alternative. Poverty is recognized in the Rule at article 58, which deals with tithes which could be received on behalf of the Order. It states:
You now have abandoned the pleasant riches of this world, we believe you to have willingly subjected yourselves to poverty; therefore we are resolved that you who live the communal life may receive tithes.
Even though the Templar brothers in Scotland were involved only in real estate, commerce and money markets, the Templar Knights lived by the Rule and it was strictly enforced.20
Every large organization has its bureaucracy. This was as true in the Middle Ages as it is today and the Order was no exception. The Templars not only had a bureaucratic hierarchy, it had specific job descrip-tions. These primarily evolved between 1129–1160 when the Templars established what today would be called an organization chart or its organizational ‘hierarchy’. The hierarchy demonstrates that some things never change. Not even in 800 years. The Templars’ organization chart looks just like many seen today.
The Templars’ organizational hierarchy was used, to some extent, in Scotland. Some of the offices were the same, others were unique to Scotland. But an understanding of how the Templar organization worked in general, provides a basis for understanding how it was adjusted to accommodate the conditions in Scotland.
The organizational hierarchy was logically codified in the portion of the Rule known as the Hierarchical Statutes. Each of the offices is described separately and listed in sequence, the higher offices first.
Grand Master: The Master of the Temple of Jerusalem was the ultimate leader of the Knights Templar. Although his powers were extensive and his authority in battle absolute, the Rule expressly required that the major internal decisions had to be approved by a Council of Knights, of which the Master was a member, with one vote.21
Seneschal: The Seneschal was second in command to the Grand Master and had the Grand Master’s full authority in his absence. As the Grand Master’s ‘right-hand man’ he carried the beauseant or piebald, the Templars’ black and white banner with the white above and the black below.22
Marshal: The Marshal was third in command. He was in charge of all arms and animals used in battle. He was also responsible for the distribution of gifts, alms and booty. In the absence of the Master and the Seneschal, the Marshal was the supreme military commander.23
Commander (Grand Marshal/Prior) of the Kingdom of Jerusalem/Grand Treasurer: He was the commander for the province of Jerusalem and was the treasurer for the entire Order.24
Commander (Master) of the City of Jerusalem: He ran the city and continued the original task of the Knights Templar: protecting pilgrims en route to Jerusalem. There was a Master for each country who ruled over the commanderies and preceptories in each respective country, such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and England. The Templars in Scotland were ruled by the Commander or Preceptor at Balantrodoch who reported to the Master in London.25
Draper: The Draper was the quartermaster. He was in charge of clothes and bed linen.26
Turcopolier: The Turcopolier was the light cavalry commander who developed several battle formations. As described in Chapter 10, one of these is said to have been used by Scottish knights in Spain against the Moors when they were attempting to take the heart of Robert the Bruce to Outremer.
The Rule describes the commanders and sergeants who were responsible for the localized units, specifically the local properties of the Templars, forts, farms, and estates which were called ‘houses’. These were governed by Commanders of the Houses who reported to the Provincial Master or Grand Prior. England and Scotland were not separated and were governed by a Master of the Temple in London. Scotland was governed by a Commander or Preceptor at Balantrodoch just south of Edinburgh, which is described in detail in the next chapter.
Specific levels or classes in the Templar brothers existed. For example:
A knight was noble before he joined the Order. He did not become a knight by joining. Upon joining the Order he surrendered his property, if he had any, took monastic vows and became a monk. He wore a white mantle with a red eight-pointed cross.27
An associate was a noble who joined the Order for limited periods of time or a fixed term.28 For example, a married man would become involved for a while. Another might join the Order for a particular crusade. After his term was up, he would return home to his family and estate.
A sergeant (or esquire) was a younger, lightly armed troop and/or a squire to a knight. He was required to be a free man to be qualified to join. He wore the red eight-pointed cross on a brown or black mantle. He was not allowed to wear a white mantle.29 At the inquisition of the Templars in Scotland, only two knights were questioned; the majority of the brothers in Scotland were undoubtedly sergeants whose job it was to conduct the overall management of the Templar properties. None were arrested, and the records show that they simply went on as before.
A Templar chaplain replaced and was separate from the church or diocesan authority. The chaplain conducted all of the Templars’ various religious services and ceremonies. He answered only to the Pope.30
Craftsmen and menials were the manual laborers, artisans and domestic servants who are said to have been the largest group of Templar personnel. They performed the day-to-day work.31 The elite of this group were the stonemasons.
In Scotland the most numerous group were the baillis who may have played a significant role in the Templars’ continued existence in Scotland after their formal dissolution. An individual baillis would manage a larger estate or house. Others would manage a number of smaller properties. None were arrested during the inquisition in Scotland. They and their successors continued to manage the Templar properties in Scotland for several hundred years.
The Templars’ roles as warriors and entrepreneurs began in 1229 after the Council of Troyes. In late 1227 or early 1228 Hughes de Payens left Palestine and returned to France, where he began an earnest campaign to solicit gifts and gain recruits. He met with the kings and nobility of France, and then traveled to Normandy where he met with Henry I, the King of England, who gave him ‘his blessing and great treasures’. Henry I then sent him off to raise funds and to recruit additional knights from England and Scotland.32 Before and at the Council of Troyes, Hughes de Payens had a long dialogue with Abbot Bernard de Clairvaux, which ended with the Abbot’s full support. As a result, the Templars established a strong foothold in France, England and Scotland.33 Ultimately, the Templars acquired land in Outremer, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Germany. ‘If the brothers in the Holy Land were the spearhead, those in Europe were the shaft, supplying arms and armor, men, money, horses and food.’34
The Templars ultimately formed the predecessor to what is today’s multinational conglomerate.35 They owned churches, forts, farms and extensive landholdings throughout Europe and Outremer. They became very skilled in farming, particularly on barely profitable land, because nobles often donated land that was not economical for them to farm themselves. Another area in which the Templars excelled was stonemasonry; there was a specific rule that expressly permitted masons to wear gloves, when all the other brothers, except chaplains, could not.36
The Templars also owned a substantial fleet of ships. Because of their military ability and reputation, they were able to safely move goods and money. They controlled the Atlantic coast from their port at La Rochelle, the Mediterranean from Marseilles, and the east from Acre in Outremer. They were multinational bankers who held money and wealth on deposit for monarchs and nobles, and also loaned them substantial amounts. The Knights Templar invented the letter of credit. These originated with travelers depositing money in London or Paris, and then drawing the equivalent in a different currency at their destination in the east. This, of course, generated a fee. The practice was quickly incorporated into the practices of secular bankers. While the Church prohibited the charging of interest, the Templars and other bankers could charge fees and levy penalties.
Another area where the Templars were self-contained was in healthcare.37 The Rule is very specific about providing care and consideration to brothers who became sick.38 They had their own hospitals, 39 physicians and surgeons. The Templars could provide excellent healthcare because they had become intimately familiar with near eastern medicine which was substantially superior to the primitive methods used in Europe. They are even believed to have had an understanding of antibiotics.40 If a Templar contracted leprosy, which was not uncommon, he was given the option of transferring to the Order of St Lazarus.41
It is more exciting to write about the Templars’ battles, and to depict the Templars primarily as warriors. But warriors spend a great deal of time in between battles, and the knights of the Knights Templar were no exception. They spent the majority of their time performing maintenance on their weapons, caring for their livestock, tending to their agriculture and banking. On a daily basis, the knights were monks and they lived communally. Each was provided according to his need. No one knight was elevated above another.42 They not only said grace at each meal, 43 but they read from the Holy Scripture.44 They celebrated nineteen feast days.45 They had specific rules for attendance at chapel, 46 and on Fridays the knights ate only Lenten food, which was eaten collectively.47 In the evening, each day ended with prayers.48 And so it went, every day for approximately 183 years between the Council of Troyes in 1129 and the Templars’ formal dissolution in 1312, from England and Scotland, across Europe to Outremer. This represents a significant amount of structure and tradition. To attempt to end the Templars’ long conditioned lifestyle on a particular day, such as the day of the Templar arrests on Friday 13 October 1307, or with the stroke of a pen by Pope Clement V on 3 April 1312 when he signed the decree dissolving the Templars, would be next to impossible.
The Templars may have originated in 1118, when Hughes de Payens and eight other knights began protecting pilgrims traveling in the Holy Land, but their chronicled history begins in 1128 after the Council of Troyes. It was then that the Templars began their defence of the Holy Land, and they led its occupation for 162 years.
The Council of Troyes took place in the cathedral at Troyes on 13 January 1128, St Hilary’s day. It is near to both the towns of Payens (now ‘Payns’) and Clairvaux in northern France. We know exactly what happened at the council because the proceedings were recorded by John Michael, who Bernard de Clairvaux chose to be the council’s scribe. The council was presided over by Matthew du Remois, Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, the papal legate. Hughes de Payens was accompanied by the Templars’ co-founder, Godfrey de Saint-Omar, and four other original Templars, Roland Geoffroi Bisot, Payen de Montdidier and Archambaud de St Aman.49 The cathedral was full of members of church hierarchy in their ornate clerical garb, and richly clad nobles. The Templars wore closely cropped hair, bushy beards and old, tattered clothes.
Hughes de Payens was the primary speaker at the council. His speech described the Templars’ life, hardship, and purpose in Outremer. It ended with a plea for formal support from the Church, rules to live by, funds and recruits. The requests were approved by the Abbot Bernard de Clairvaux, and were accepted by all those who were present. Church acceptance was gained by the approval of Pope Honorius II. The rules to live by were detailed and harsh. They were achieved by the adoption of the original seventy-two articles of the ‘Rule’ of the Temple, which is also known as the ‘Latin Rule’ or the ‘Primitive Rule’.50 Funds and recruits came in as Hughes de Payens toured Europe and the British Isles.
The Council of Troyes also laid the foundation for the elements that were to become the cause of the Templars’ downfall. It was at the council that the Templars initially received the blessing of the Pope. This ultimately led to the Templars becoming responsible only to the Pope, and free and autonomous from secular authority. The evolution of the Templars somewhat follows the saying that originated with Lord Acton: ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’51 As the Templars gained autonomy and wealth, they became ever more powerful, and more arrogant. This arrogance was as evident in Scotland as it was in mainland Europe.
At the conclusion of the Council of Troyes the Templars possessed an immense amount of stature, and access to what was to become their overwhelming wealth. But even with the land and money provided by the kings and nobles, there are still those who question how the Templars acquired their wealth. And this question goes back to the Templars’ excavations beneath what had been the Temple of Solomon. Some speculate that what they found in the catacombs of the temple was what motivated the Pope to grant the Order its unique and extensive rights. Along with the speculation of riches, there is also a theory that the Templars discovered a credible set of documents, including gospels, which refuted the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But this overlooks a number of salient facts. The Templars had the support of Bernard de Clairvaux, whose influence was significant, and of the Pope, the only earthly authority to which they answered. Also, the Templars were an independently funded permanent fighting force in Outremer. This saved the Pope and the European kings the expense of financing the permanent army. And, being monks, the Templars did not carry the stigma that had become attached to other knights. From this it appears that historians are correct when they simply describe the creation of the primitive Rule, and papal approvals beginning with the Council of Troyes, as the basis for the Templars’ wealth and power.
The history of the Knights Templar is incomplete without a brief discussion and overview of the Saracens’ effectiveness during the presence of the Templars in Outremer. To a great extent, the effectiveness of the Christians and the Templars was inversely proportional to Muslim unity. When the Muslim sects were splintered, the Christians prevailed in battle and controlled the population centres. But when the Muslims were united, Christian and Templar defeat would ultimately follow. The effectiveness of the Saracens can be divided into three periods of time or stages.52
During the first period, from 1129 to 1193, the Muslims were in abject disarray. But beginning in 1171, Salah-ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, or ‘Saladin’, began a campaign to unite the Muslims. Surprisingly, he was a Kurd. His first success was to unite the tribes in what is now northern Syria, and become the Sultan of Damascus. He then directed his campaign to the south and ultimately united Egypt, becoming its sultan. His campaign reached its zenith on 4 July 1187 at the Battle of Hattin, which saw the total defeat of the Christians.
During the second stage, from 1193 to 1260, Saladin’s empire was divided between his brother and sons. There were a series of five-to ten-year truces between Muslims and Christians. Each of these was followed by a crusading campaign, or series of battles, and then another truce. During the truces there was no raiding and no sieges.
During the third stage, 1260–1300, the Muslims became unified under the Mamluk Egyptians. Their rise to power began after their victory over the Mongols who were invading Palestine in the 1250s and ’60s. The Christian presence effectively ended with the fall of the port of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291.
Even though the Knights Templar existed under papal authority, they received even greater recognition and authority from the Pope in 1135 at the Council of Pisa. Pope Innocent II repaid the Templars and Bernard de Clairvaux for their support of his papacy when he was challenged by Anacletus II of Rome. As a reward for his victory, Innocent II granted the Templars a mark of gold each year. Each of the other 113 clergy at the Council of Pisa contributed a mark of silver. This further enriched the Templar coffers and their stature. The efforts of Hughes de Payens had come to fruition, and he was able to see the result before he died on 24 May 1136.
The next significant event occurred on 29 March 1139 when Innocent II issued a papal bull titled Omne Datum Optimum, which was the final step in the Templars attaining absolute autonomy. The rights it granted were extensive. It granted the Knights Templar the right to appoint their own chaplains who would be responsible to the Master and not to any local bishop, the right to build their own churches53 and the right to receive tithes.54 Pope Innocent II, in essence, declared that the Templars were not only an autonomous military order, but gave them the power to become an international conglomerate not subject to borders or taxation.
The year of 1139 was also significant because by then the Templars had solidified their presence in Outremer by building a number of fortifications. The type of construction of the early fortifications is unknown because at that time the Templars did not have the funds necessary to build stone castles, but rather built their defenses behind such things as earthen berms. They began in the north at La Roche de Roussel, north of Antioch in what is now the southernmost part of Turkey near the Syrian border. Just south of that was the castle of Darbsak. A little further south was the fort at Baghras which guarded the Belen Pass into Syria. Further south, on the Mediterranean coast, was the fort of Port Bonnet. Near ‘Atlit, the Templars took over the castle at Destroit – which was near the road to Mount Carmel – to assist in the protection of pilgrims. Also, in 1139 Eleanor of Aquitaine (then the wife of Louis VII of France) gave the Templars certain mills, buildings and enclosures in the port of La Rochelle, free of customs, infractions and levies.55 La Rochelle became the Templars’ most important port on the Atlantic coast, and it is believed that La Rochelle was the destination and the shipping point for the Templar treasure that was transported out of Paris prior to the Templars’ arrest on 13 October 1307.
Milites Templi was a subsequent papal bull issued in 1144 by Pope Celestine II which was almost an exact repeat of Omne Datum Optimum.56 Militia Templi added military authority for the Templar clergy to protect their persons and goods. Militia Dei, issued in 1145, re-enforced the Templars’ right to collect tithes, obligations and burial fees.57
The Second Crusade, which took place between 1147 and 1149, was significant because at the Temple in Paris, prior to the Templars’ depar-ture, Pope Eugenius III gave the Templars the right to wear the red cross on their white tunics, signifying their willingness to suffer martyrdom in defense of the Holy Land. This crusade ended when the Franks failed to capture Damascus in 1148.58 This failure is attributed by some historians to the deceit of the Templars.59 Specifically, many historians write that the Templars had accepted a bribe from the Muslims to end the siege. But the historian William of Tyre, in the mid-1150s, would not assign blame to the Templars when the Templars were at the height of their effectiveness.60 They were devout, they were Palestine’s best warriors, and they visibly escorted thousands of pilgrims to Jerusalem and the holy sites. They were respected bankers, merchants and seamen. Because of the continuing crusades and constant flow of pilgrims, the Templars had a clear purpose. The Christians were in control of the Holy Land, and the Templars had not yet gained a reputation for secrecy and avarice. This would develop over the next several decades, and be the primary reason for their downfall over 150 years later.
The Rule was again amended in the mid-1160s to add Hierarchical Articles or retrais. Then in the late 1160s, the Articles on conventional life, the holding of chapters, and penance were added.
As early as 1173 the attitude of the Templars, and the Order’s values, if not their dedication and fighting abilities, had begun to change. In the beginning, the goals of the Templars were focused on saving the Holy Land. But by the 1170s the Templars had begun to look towards expanding their power, their influence and their wealth. This is demonstrated by the often told story of the murder of the Assassin envoy by the Templars. It is a story that highlights the loyalty of the Grand Master to the Knights, the Knights’ focus on money, and their mistrust of others.
The Assassins were a group of twelfth-and thirteenth-century Shiite Muslims whose activities were primarily directed towards the Sunnis. They were very puritanical and believed that death was the appropriate punishment for most, if not all acts of misfeasance. Their name in Arabic is Hashishiyun.The name Assassins is a western term. There is a dispute as to whether before an assassination they would inhale hashish, but nevertheless they became very efficient at their craft of murder. The Assassins did, on occasion, put their services out for hire.
The event involves Amalric, the King of Jerusalem, the Assassins and the Templars. Amalric was alarmed at the rising power of Saladin, a Sunnite, and sought an alliance between the Assassins and the Templars. He and the Assassins made a number of promises. Strangely enough, the Assassins agreed to adopt the Christian faith if the Templars agreed to give up the annual tribute the Assassins paid the Templars.
The Templars did not trust King Amalric, and did not believe he would keep his word. So, rather than worry about future negotiations and the loss of income, a one-eyed Templar named Walter de Mesnil killed the Assassin envoy on their return to their mountain castle in Persia known as Alamut – the Eagle’s Nest.61 The Assassins were furious. Both King Amalric and the Assassins demanded that Walter de Mesnil be arrested and put on trial. But Odo de St Amand, the Templar Grand Master, would have none of it. He backed, and was loyal to, Walter de Mesnil, and would only allow him to be tried by the Pope in Rome. But Amalric and the Assassins were not to be denied justice. Amalric personally led the raid on Sidon where Odo de St Amand had placed Walter de Mesnil. The Templars’ defenses were insufficient, and Amalric’s troops gained entry, arrested Walter de Mesnil and carried him off. Apparently this appeased the Assassin Chief. Nothing more is known of Walter de Mesnil.
At the same time that Saladin gained strength, the Templar leadership became over-confident. The forces came together at the Battle of Hattin in the hills behind Tiberias near the Sea of Galilee in 1187. The Christians were soundly defeated. The loss of Jerusalem soon followed and there was a substantial diminution of the Franks’ influence in Outremer.62
The location of the Battle of Hattin demonstrates that while the Templars were formidable warriors and businessmen, their judgement was not without fault. Hattin was a very poor, if not the worst possible site for the battle from the point of view of the Franks and Templars. Saladin’s army had rested in the lush pastures of Hattin for over a day. The Franks and Templars were coming from Sephoria, a place about twelve miles away. To get to Hattin, the Christian troops had to cross arid plain under a blazing midsummer sun. At the time the first battle began, the troops were dehydrated and exhausted. The initial battle during the first day was lost. When they camped for the night, Saladin’s troops were able to cut off the Templars and Franks from water. Saladin then had his troops burn what little dry grass there was around the campsite so that smoke would drift among the Franks and Templars. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding green pastures could be seen from the Templar camp. Many of the troops bolted for the water. The remaining Templars fought valiantly, but without success. The rest is history.
It is agreed that the battle was the result of poor decisions by the Templar Master Garard de Rideforte. Specifically, it was his decisions that caused the Franks and the Templars to be where they were at Hattin at the time of the battle. And Garard de Rideforte is said to have given the order to begin the attack.
The defeat essentially marks the end of European rule of the Middle East. The Europeans continued to maintain a significant presence in Outremer, but they recovered only a small portion of their original conquest. They never again conquered Jerusalem. The Saracens feared and dreaded the Templars; after the Battle of Hattin, the Templars who survived were captured and taken to Saladin’s palace where they were individually beheaded in front of him.
The Third Crusade, during the years 1189 and 1192, was led by Richard the Lionheart. It recovered much of Outremer along the coast, but did not reclaim Jerusalem. One of the reasons given is that the Templars argued to abandon further progress towards Jerusalem, fortify the nearby city of Ascolon and wait for a better opportunity. Another reason, and one that seems more logical, is that while the Franks were within about twelve miles of Jerusalem, they elected to stop because of the difficulty in providing long-term logistical support to a city as complex and difficult to maintain as Jerusalem. Also, by agreement, Jerusalem was opened to Christian pilgrims.
In 1191, the Templars established a new headquarters at Acre, a city north of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean Sea. It remained their headquarters or a major house for another 100 years.
During the next year the Templars occupied Cyprus, and they continued to have some form of presence there until 1571.
The Fourth Crusade, between 1202 and 1204, started with Egypt as its objective. But the Crusaders were unable to pay the Venetians for their sea transport, and they ended up sacking Constantinople which had dire historical consequences for the Byzantine Empire.63
Next was the ‘Children’s Crusade’ which occurred in 1212. It was a travesty. The Templars were not involved, but it is included to demonstrate the deceit and corruption of the times. The Children’s Crusade was organized by Stephen of Cloyes, a teenager. He recruited an army of teenagers to fight the Saracens with the idea that the energy of youth fighting under the Christian banner would be invincible. But the young people never arrived in Outremer because they were kidnapped and sold into slavery in Africa by the unscrupulous fleet owner.64
The Fifth Crusade took place in 1217 and 1218. Templar banking and letters of credit were a substantial factor in the logistical success of the Fifth Crusade, if not its military success. To finance the crusade and avoid payment problems, large sums were deposited with Haimard, the Templar treasurer, at the Temple in Paris.65 Comparable sums were then drawn in Outremer or anywhere else where the Templars had a significant presence. Again, the Templars did not charge interest. Instead they charged ‘rent’ and collected fees.
These letters of credit, as they are now known, avoided the problems that occurred by physically transporting exceptionally large amounts necessary to finance a crusade to the eastern Mediterranean area. Unfortunately, the crusade lacked strong leadership, and the forces were flooded out when they were trapped in the Nile delta and forced to ignominiously retreat back to Acre.66
The construction of a new castle at Atlit, about twenty-five miles south of Acre, took place between 1217 and 1221 as the replacement for the castle at Destroit. Atlit is also known as Castle Pilgrim because a vast amount of pilgrim and crusader labor was used in conjunction with the Templars’ masons to build it.67 The area was very productive in terms of fisheries and agriculture. The castle and the Templar presence protected both the economic endeavors, and the pilgrims on the road to Mount Carmel. It was also built as a temporary headquarters for the Templars until they could move to a fortified Jerusalem.68 It was one of the strongest castles in Outremer and was never captured. It and the town around it were evacuated after the fall of Acre in 1291.
The Sixth Crusade was, on the one hand, one of the most successful crusades, and on the other a pathetic comedy of errors. It occurred between 1228 and 1229. It had its origins in 1212 when Frederick II was crowned King of Germany and vowed to go on a crusade. But when he was made emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1220 he still had not organized it. He had not organized a crusade fifteen years later, in 1227, when his mentor, Pope Honorius, died and Gregory III succeeded him. One of the first things Gregory III did was to excommunicate Frederick II for not having carried out a crusade. In response, Frederick immediately began one. But crusades were to be carried out under the Pope’s command and authority. Frederick had not obtained papal authority, nor had he made supplication to the Pope to have his excommunication removed. Because of this, the Pope again excommunicated him. As a result, Frederick arrived in Acre in September 1228 with two excommunications, and he was not at all welcome. The Christians in Outremer took their religion very seriously. The Templars owed their allegiance to the Pope.
But Frederick II was the Holy Roman Emperor, and he had brought a small, but adequate army with him. He also brought with him a level of education that was so significant that it was unknown in Europe. Frederick II had not been raised in Europe, but in Sicily, which was then, as now, half-Greek and half-Arab. He not only spoke German, but Greek, Arabic, and three other languages. He was also trained in all the then known sciences, and carried the title stupor mundi et immutator mirabilis, or ‘marvel of the world’.
When Frederick began his march south towards Egypt, he placed both the Templars and the Sultan al-Kamil in a quandary, although each for a different reason. Because the Templars owed their allegiance to the Pope, they could not take command from an excommunicated emperor in an unauthorized crusade. But their duty was to protect travelers and Christians in Outremer. As a result, when the march began, the Templars separated themselves from Frederick’s forces. This was fine until the Muslims began to successfully attack the main force. The Templars, being pragmatic, agreed to join if the orders were given in the name of God and by someone other than Frederick.
Al-Kamil’s quandary was whether or not to begin another battle that would detract from his siege of Damascus. This opened the door to negotiations. In the end, Frederick obtained Christian rule for Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land including Nazareth and Bethlehem with safe corridors to all the sites. But even though Frederick had obtained the most significant victory after Richard the Lionheart, and one that was never again equaled, no one was happy. The Church was unhappy because Jerusalem had been won by an excommunicate. In addition, the Templars were unhappy because the treaty provided that the Muslims remain in control of the Dome on the Rock which stood over their original quarters in the catacombs under the Temple of Solomon. The result was a dispute and open hostilities between the Templars and Frederick II. The animosity finally came to an end when the Pope declared war on Frederick’s holdings in Italy. Frederick had to return to Europe immediately. For all his success, Frederick did not leave Outremer with cheers and fanfare. He left amid jeering citizens that pelted him with dung and offal.
Frederick II’s treaty only lasted ten years. When it expired in 1244, Jerusalem was returned to the Muslims.
The absolute trust of the Templars by the kings and nobles is demonstrated by the Seventh Crusade in 1250. The Seventh Crusade was undertaken by Louis IX to capture Cairo and southern Egypt. It began well with the capture of Damietta at the eastern Nile delta, but it soon bogged down. The city of Mansurah is about fifty miles up the Nile from Damietta and about a quarter of the way to Cairo. The Templars’ Master, Guillaume de Sonne, argued to consolidate their position on the coast and take Alexandria. But Louis IX’s brother, Count Robert of Artois, argued vociferously for an assault on Mansurah and then Cairo. King Louis was swayed by his brother’s argument. The going was slow at first because Muslim raiders continually harassed the crusaders, and Louis would not allow retaliation. But this came to an end when a Templar was attacked. The Templar Master ordered a counter-attack which resulted in the death of hundreds of Muslims. Louis IX and his forces proceeded rapidly to Mansurah. When they arrived they found that the gates had been left open. With no resistance, the Templars and crusaders went directly to the citadel, but they soon found themselves trapped in narrow streets with the Muslim troops behind them and filling all the side streets. All of the attacking troops were killed, including over 200 Templars. The Templar Master, Guillaume de Sonne, was killed after losing an eye to an arrow. King Louis IX was captured. The enormity of the defeat was described in a report that was carried to France:
According to the statement of the master of the Templars in Scotland, the ransom of the king of France, captured by Saracens in Egypt, amounted to 40,000 pounds. The number of those killed was 60,000, and 20,000 from the Frankish army, this was in the year 1250. This was for a long time kept secret from Lady Blanche, the King’s mother and the whole baronage of France, lest in desperation they should refuse to consent to the Ransom.69
The name of Scotland’s Master is unknown. But the story exemplifies the trust that had been earned by the Templars. The Master from Scotland was entrusted with not only taking the message to France, and ultimately to the king’s mother, but returning to Egypt with the King’s ransom. The ransom was so enormous that after the Franks had gathered all available funds, they still needed substantially more. The only source available was the Templars, who had more than enough on their flagship. But when the commander was asked to release this money, he responded that it consisted of deposits, could be dispensed only to the depositors, and could only be loaned to someone other than another Templar with the consent of the Grand Master. But he had been killed, and choosing a new Master took a substantial amount of time. Marshal Renaud de Vichiers had a solution. The Franks could ‘take’ the money and then it would not be a loan. So another one of King Louis’ brothers, Count John de Joinville, boarded the Templar flagship, and with an axe threatened to break into one of the chests. With that, the Marshal handed de Joinville the key, and he took the money necessary to complete the ransom.
Interesting conclusions can be drawn from this episode. The Templars would not deviate from the strict observance of the Rule. But, at the same time, they were not above bending the Rule to fit the circumstances. For example, the king had more than enough money on deposit with the Templars in Acre to cover the alleged theft. The Templars held immense wealth; when he threatened to steal the money, de Joinville apparently threatened to break open only one of many chests.
In the years prior to 1291, European interest in Outremer had waned. Except for another unsuccessful attempt by Philip IX, there were no more crusades. The Europeans were trading with the Arabs. The secular nobility turned many of its castles over to the Templars because it did not have the funds to support them. And even the Templar holdings diminished because of the lack of European support. But the Templars were still a significant military and economic force. Prior to 1291 there were more than 970 Templar houses, including commanderies and castles, in both east and west. These were serviced by an estimated membership (including knights, sergeants, associates and chaplains) of over 7,000. In addition to this were an estimated 50,000 dependents and employees.70 This was an immense support system for the Templars’ efforts in the Holy Land. But unfortunately this empire, so to speak, was declining, or was being retained in what would today be called a maintenance mode.
After the Battle of Hattin, the Templars’ primary house and headquarters were at the town and fort at Acre, which is about fifteen miles north of the modern Israeli port of Haifa. Acre was built on a promontory in the Mediterranean Sea and had been impregnable. But by 1291 all the land around Acre was in the hands of the Mamluks, and the city fell to them in three days, from 16 to 18 May 1291. The fall of Acre ended the European presence in Outremer and was followed by the evacuation of the cities of Tortosa and Atlit. All that remained was the isle of Ruad just two miles off the coast of what is today northern Syria.
The Templars at Ruad held out until 1302, hoping to use the island as a staging area for another crusade. Stephen Howarth states that they left because their Order was coming under attack from fellow Christians in the west.71 Malcolm Barber claims the island and the Templars were starved into submission when they were attacked by a fleet of sixteen ships sent by the Mamluks.72 Regardless of why the Templars departed, this was the very last European outpost in Outremer. With the loss of the Holy Land came the loss of the Templars’ purpose. In modern parlance, the Templars were ripe for a ‘hostile takeover’. And that is exactly what happened five years later.
On 14 September 1307 Philip IV of France (Philip le Bel [the Fair]) made a number of charges against the Templars. Specifically, the charges were made by Esquiu de Florian and were basically that:
a. the Templars put their Order and its welfare before every moral and religious principle, and took oath to defend and enrich it, whether right or wrong;
b. they kept up a secret correspondence with the Moslems;
c. novices on admission were required to spit on the cross, to renounce Christ, and to take part in a mock ceremonial;
d. any who attempted to expose the Order were secretly murdered;
e. the Templars despised the sacraments of the Church, omitted the words of consecration in the canon of the Mass, and practiced lay absolution and idolatry;
f. they were addicted to immorality and sodomy;
g. they had betrayed the Holy Land;
h. they worshipped the devil, usually in the form of a cat.
Philip IV then ordered that the Templars’ land and wealth be seized and the Templars themselves arrested and imprisoned. Historians are unanimous in the view that most of the charges were trumped up. As is discussed in a later chapter, Philip the Fair had a number of ulterior motives. For example, he had sought to become a Knight Templar and had been turned down. He was deeply in debt to the Templars, and was displeased with the fact that he could not tax their land.
The Templars were arrested by King Philip on Friday 13 October 1307.73 Because much has been written about the trials and the torture of the Templars, a lengthy discussion will not be entered into here.74 It is agreed that most of the charges were false. Many of those who were arrested did confess, but the torture of those times was excruciatingly brutal. The following is a short, contemporary description of what happened:
They were arrested without warning, suddenly, without right, and without any judgment being made against them. They were shamefully and dishonorably incarcerated with destructive rage, afflicted with taunts, the gravest threats, and various sorts of torture, compelled to die or produce absurd lies which they knew nothing about, wrongly given into the hands of their enemies, who force them through those torments to read out a foul, filthy and lying list which cannot be conceived by human ears and should not enter the human heart. But when the brothers refuse to produce these lies, although they know absolutely nothing about them, the torments of the attendants who press them daily force them to speak the lies, saying that they must recite them before the Jacobins [the Dominican friars who interrogated them] and assert that they are true if they wish to preserve their lives and obtain the King’s plentiful grace.75
According to this anonymous friend of the Order, writing in Paris in early 1308, thirty-six brothers in Paris died under torture rather than confess, while many others elsewhere in France had also died. He declared that these brothers were martyrs and now had their reward in Heaven. But the Dominican friars and others involved in the interrogation refused to listen to the brothers’ insistence that all these charges were false, and continued to torture them until either they confessed or died.76
Regarding those who did confess, there is little dispute that the vast majority of the French Templars were middle-aged members of the European support network, with little or no combat experience, who quickly confessed under torture, or the threat of it, by the Dominican friars who were put in charge of the interrogations. The cruelty they faced from Philip IV, the Pope and the inquisition is demonstrated by the burning of fifty-four Templars as relapsed heretics near Paris in 1310. Facing this threat, the result is consistent with what happened to the astronomer Galileo Galilei who, in 1633, under threat of torture by Dominican friars, recanted all of his scientific discoveries and submitted himself to a lifetime of house arrest. In fact, many Templars who did not confess were burned at the stake, as depicted in a fourteenth-century painting in Figure 2.
During 1311 and 1312 Pope Clement V held the Council of Vienna. On 22 March 1312 he issued the papal bull Vox in excelso which abolished the Knights Templar.77 On 2 May 1312 he issued an additional papal bull Ad providam which transferred all Templar property to the Hospitallers.78
Jacques de Molay, the Templars’ last Grand Master before their dissolution, is depicted in Figure 3. He and his Seneschal, Geoffroi of Charney, were executed on 18 March 1314. They were burned to death on an island in the Seine close to Notre-Dame while King Philip IV looked on. Prior to his death, Jacques de Molay called for the judgement of God on both Philip and Pope Clement V. Legend has it that king and Pope were cursed by Jacques de Molay, who vowed that neither would live out the year. Neither did.
The charges of heresy are easily countered by an examination of the Templars’ practices and by their adherence to the Rule. During August 1308 three cardinals were sent by Pope Clement V to hold hearings at Chinon Castle to learn the guilt or innocence of the Templars. The cardinals found the Templars innocent. The Templars were absolved by the cardinals in a document found in the archives of the Vatican known as the Chinon Parchment.79
Individually the Knights Templar lived in poverty. They ‘owned’ no personal possessions, and lived what we would call a spartan existence. Yet as an organization, they possessed wealth that was the envy of Europe. They were the finest warriors in the world, yet it appears that their numbers and wealth created an inevitable bureaucracy that was part of their undoing. They were willing to die for their beliefs. But with this ultimate sacrifice there was an arrogance that also contributed to the end of the Order as it existed throughout Europe and the British Isles.
Legend has it that prior to 13 October 1307 Jacques de Molay ordered that the treasure held in the Paris Temple be shipped out of France;much of it was shipped to Portugal, but most, it seems, was shipped to Scotland.
There is little dispute that many of the Templars and much of their treasure escaped to Portugal. In Portugal, the Knights Templar became the ‘Knights of Christ’.80 But there is still some disagreement about how it happened. Laurence Gardner states that in Portugal in 1307, the Knights Templar became reincorporated as the ‘Knights of Christ’.81 But Malcolm Barber says that ‘after the Temple was suppressed in 1312 the new order of Christ [Knights of Christ] created by King Diniz of Portugal in 1319 was largely based upon Templar property and personnel’.82
There is also dispute as to whether the Templars and their treasure were transported out of France to Scotland. The evidence that is discussed in later chapters indicates that they were. But Stephen Howarth has an insightful evaluation of the status of the Templars in Scotland after 1307:
Scotland is intriguing, however, for although in the last, terrible days only two Templars were arrested there, the country contained a substantial quantity of Templar property. Around Aberdeen alone, their cross stood on houses and churches in Turriff, Tullich, Maryculter, Aboyne and Kingcausie. In Aberdeen itself they had a chapel, recorded in 1907 as ‘lying between Dancing Master Peacock’s close and Gardener’s Lane’; and south of the town, at Culter, they had an estate of no less than eight thousand acres. Clearly there must have been more than two men to run all these; but what became of these men – no one knows. There are traditions of escaped Templars and secret preceptories in the outer isles; but these are fantasies born centuries after the Order’s suppression;there are no facts on which to base them.83
If the legend/theory is correct, and Mr Howarth is not, there is still a substantial divergence as to where in Scotland the Templars’ treasures were initially shipped. One view favors the Inner Hebrides and Argyll. Another favors the Orkney Islands which were held by the Sinclairs. There are also those who posit that such treasure as did exist was ultimately hidden in the vaults under the Rosslyn Chapel.
Support for a Templar presence in Scotland after 1307 is found in the books by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, and by Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins.84 But the arguments by these authors have been the subject of various levels of criticism. But even if the arguments have fault, the premises of the authors may not. After 1312 the Templars continued to keep an archive in Cyprus. Unfortunately it was destroyed by the Ottomans in 1571.
1 There are myths that state the Templars were formed in France prior to the First Crusade, and that their true purpose was not to protect pilgrims, but to explore the catacombs under the remnants of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. There are no known facts to support these myths. They arise, in part, from the questions that are raised later in this chapter.
2 Burnes, James, Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars, Wm. Blackwood & Sons (Edinburgh, 1840), p. 10. Burnes devotes an entire chapter to the continuation of the Knights Templar after it was allegedly abolished in 1307–12.
3 The Temple of Solomon was first built by King Solomon in 950 bce on what is known as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It was destroyed by the Chaldeans in 586, but rebuilt in 515 bce Beginning around 30 bce Herod rebuilt the Temple and expanded it to a scale that was exceptional for the time. In 70 ce the Romans put down a rebellion in Palestine that included the Jews. In their recapture of Jerusalem, the Romans totally destroyed this Second Temple. Only portions of the catacombs remained.
4 For examples, see: Wallace-Murphy, Tim & Hopkins, Marilyn, Rosslyn, Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail, Element Books Limited (Shaftesbury, 1999), p. 114;Gardner, Laurence, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, Barnes & Noble (New York, 1997), p. 258; Sanello, Frank, The Knights Templar, God’s Warriors, the Devil’s Bankers, Taylor Trade Publishing (Lanham, 2003), p. 4; Sora, Steven, The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar, Destiny Books (Rochester, 1999), pp. 37–38, 124–126.
5 Nicholson, Helen, The Knights Templar: A New History, Sutton Publishing Ltd (Gloucestershire, 2001), p. 42.
6 Barber, Malcolm, The Trial of the Templars, Canto edition, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1993).
7 Partner, Peter, The Knights Templar and their Myth, Destiny Books (Rochester, Vermont, 1990), p. 6.
8 ‘In Praise of the New Knighthood, Liber as milites Templi: De laude novae militae’, translated by Lisa Coffin, in Wasserman, James, The Templars and the Assassins, The Militia of Heaven, Inner Traditions (Rochester, Vermont, 2001), pp. 278, 284.
9 Barber, Malcolm, The New Knighthood, A History of the Order of theTemple, Canto ed., Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1994), p. 15.
10 Picket, Lynn & Prince, Clive, The Templar Revelation, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster (New York, 1998), pp. 97–98.
11 Upton-Ward, J.M., The Rule of the Templars, The Boydell Press (Suffolk, 1992). All references to the Rule are from this book. Rule, Art. 21.
12 Rule, Art. 26.
13 Rule, Art. 23, 31–32.
14 Rule, Art. 48.
15 Rule, Art. 43.
16 Rule, Art. 304. It is interesting to note that while the prayer schedule was started by the Cistercian and Benedictine monks, it is currently followed at certain times by not only the clergy of the Catholic Church, but by that of the Lutherans, Anglicans/Episcopalians and other early Protestant religions.
17 Rule, Art. 11.
18 Robinson, John J., Born in Blood, the Lost Secrets of Freemasonry, M. Evens & Co. (New York, 1989), pp. 71–72.
19 Barber, The New Knighthood, pp. 6–7.
20 Howarth, Stephen, The Knights Templar, Barns & Noble (New York, 1992), p. 245.
21 Rule, Art. 77 et seq.
22 Rule, Art. 99 et seq.
23 Rule, Art. 101 et seq.
24 Rule, Art. 110 et seq.
25 Rule, Art. 120 et seq.
26 Rule, Art. 130 et seq.
27 See the Rule at Articles 51 and 57.
28 Rule, Art. 65–66.
29 Rule, Art. 68.
30 Rule, Art. 268–271. Papal bull of Alexander III Omne Datum Optimum.
31 Rule, Art. 175, 319, 321 et seq.
32 Barber, The New Knighthood, p. 14. Howarth, The Knights Templar, p. 64. Frale, Barbara, The Knights Templar, The Secret History Revealed, Arcade Publishing (New York, 2009), p. 30.
33 Howarth, The Knights Templar, p. 65.
34 Ibid., p. 234.
35 Butler, Alan & Dafoe, Stephan, The Warriors and the Bankers, Templar Books (Canada, 1998), p. 27, refers to the Knights Templar as ‘ Templar Inc.’
36 Rule, Art. 325.
37 Rule, Art. 61, 190–197.
38 Rule, Art. 61.
39 The preceptory of Denney in Cambridgeshire was a hospital for sick and elderly brothers, as was the preceptory at Eagle in Lincolnshire. Burman, Edward, The Templars, Knights of God, Destiny Books (Rochester, Vermont, 1986), p. 95. Parker, Thomas W., The Knights Templars in England, University of Arizona Press (Tucson, 1963), p. 41.
40 Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Jonathan Cape (1982), pp. 67–68.
41 Rule, Art. 443; Barber, The New Knighthood, pp. 217–218.
42 Rule, Art. 34.
43 Rule, Art. 29.
44 Rule, Art. 24, 29.
45 Rule, Art. 74.
46 Rule, Art. 15–16.
47 Rule, Art. 28.
48 Rule, Art. 30.
49 Upton-Ward, The Rule of the Templars, p. 3.
50 The Rule was expanded several times to a total of 685 articles.
51 Letter to Bishop Creighton, 1887.
52 Nicholson, The Knights Templar: A New History, pp. 48–50.
53 Howarth, The Knights Templar, p. 80.
54 Partner, The Knights Templar and their Myth, p. 3. Rule, Art. 58.
55 Barber, The New Knighthood, pp. 25–26.
56 Howarth, The Knights Templar, p. 83.
57 Barber, The New Knighthood, p. 58.
58 Hallam, Chronicles of the Crusades, CLB International (1989), pp. 143–146. The term ‘Franks’ originally referred to a Rhineland Germanic tribe, but during the Crusades, in Outremer, it generally referred to western Europeans. Ralls, Karen, Knights Templar Encyclopedia, New Age Books (Franklin Lakes, 2007), p. 69.
59 Ibid., p. 148.
60 Nicholson, The Knights Templar: A New History, p. 74. Barbara Frale, The Knights Templar, p. 95 goes so far as to laud the Templars’ performance.
61 Howarth, The Knights Templar, pp. 127–128. He opines that the Templars preferred hard cash to a dubious alliance; Barber, op. cit., p. 101; Simon, Edith, The Piebald Standard, A Biography of the Knights Templar, Little, Brown & Co. (Boston, 1959), pp. 101–102.
62 See Howarth, The Knights Templar, pp. 145–156. A full description of the slaughter of the Christians at Hattin is beyond the scope of this chapter. According to Stephen Howarth, tradition holds that the Twin Peaks of Hattin above the battlefield was the site of the Sermon on the Mount. Howarth, The Knights Templar, p. 153.
63 Barber, The New Knighthood, p. 126.
64 Sora, The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar, Destiny Books (1999), p. 99.
65 Barber, The New Knighthood, p. 127.
66 Read, Piers Paul, The Templars, St Martins Press (New York, 1999), p. 199.
67 Simon, The Piebald Standard, p. 117.
68 Howarth, The Knights Templar, p. 195. The east wall of Atlit is a significant example of Templar masonry. One of the obvious arguments supporting the belief that the Knights Templar were the precursors to the Masons is the fact that masons were heavily involved with building the Templars’ numerous churches and forts.
69 MacQuarrie, Alan, Scotland and the Crusades, 1095–1560, John Donald Publishers, Ltd (Edinburgh, 1985), p. 49; quoting from Matthew Paris, Chronica Maiora, vi, 521.
70 Barber, M., ‘Supplying the Crusader States’, in The Horns of Hattin, edited by B.Z. Kedar (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi; Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum, 1992), p. 186.
71 Howarth, The Knights Templar, p. 229.
72 Barber, The New Knighthood, p. 294.
73 This is believed to be the Friday the 13th that we all think about twice a year.
74 See: Barber, Malcolm, The Trial of the Templars.
75 Nicholson, The Knights Templar: A New History, p. 217, quoting from C.R. Cheney, ‘The Downfall of the Templars and a Letter in their Defense’, p. 323.
76 Ibid., p. 217.
77 Howarth, The Knights Templar, p. 305.
78 Barber, The New Knighthood, p. 304.
79 Frale, Barbara, The Knights Templar: The Secret History Revealed, Arcade Publishing (New York, 2009), p. 3.
80 Gardner, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, pp. 271, 294.
81 Ibid., pp. 271, 294.
82 Barber, The New Knighthood, p. 34.
83 Howarth, op. cit., p. 243.
84 Baigent & Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge, Arcade Publishing (1989), and Wallace-Murphy & Hopkins, Rosslyn, Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail.